Monkey Business

    My week went something like this: Class, study, work out, study, free time, study. Until the great Friday of the monkeys! When I first came here, I heard from several students about the place where the wild(ish) monkeys are. In a slightly random and unexpected encounter, I was invited by a group to go see the monkeys and tour outside Ifrane. A fifteen-minute car trip took us to a place similar to not very well maintained state park- outhouses, a parking lot, and litter seemed to be the main features. 5 Dirhams bought a bag of peanuts to feed the monkeys, which were happily mooching from day-trippers everywhere. If given a peanut, they would happily crack it open with startlingly human-like dexterity. These monkeys had it figured out: free food and few predators.

Big Ape on Campus

Mr. Monkey

After donating all our peanuts to the monkey cause, we meandered back to Ifrane, stopping on the way for a short hike down to a river (my flip flops were NOT the appropriate footwear for this!). Finally being in the great outdoors, after almost a month here, reminded me how much places outside feel like home. The sky, the fresh air, the sounds, all reminded me how much I love being outside. I also spent much of my time wondering about the flora and fauna. After two summers “counting grass” I have become familiar with many of the native Montana species, but here it is a whole new experience. I intend to buy a book about what I’m seeing here- Chuck and Lorna, I hope you’re proud. :D

What tree is this? -I think I've become a plant nerd

Witnessing the vast mountains of garbage that are near every public outdoor space, I see the necessity of littering laws. When I asked a Moroccan friend if he had heard of such a thing, he seemed confused- “You get charged for throwing things on the ground?” he asked. 

This made me wonder about Environmental Indicators (such as pollution and litter) in my own country, and where we rank world wide. Turns out, according to the 2010 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), released by Columbia and Yale University, the US is 61th in world environmental performance. 61^st? ouch. But that is not all- Morocco, the country people told me not to go to because it was dangerous and foreign and dirty, ranked 52th. So therefore, according the objective scientific data, my home country has worse Environmental Performance than this tiny country in Africa. That is a difficult fact to swallow, and encourages me to continue my Environmental Policy degree. 

Note the trash- it was everywhere!

You can check out the data for yourself here.

I feel the study is as objective as possible, but what you find is up to you. 

I am seeing that immersion into a new place means not judging by what you see, but by observing, analyzing, and researching what you find. Traveling to other countries makes you wonder about your own, and all that stuff about seeing things in a new light is more then propaganda.